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After bringing the biggest stack to the World Series of Poker Main Event final table, New Jersey-based pro Scott Blumstein cruised comfortably in a nearly wire-to-wire performance on his way to becoming poker’s new world champion.

In the early morning hours of Sunday – with the world watching courtesy of ESPN’s semi-live coverage – Blumstein spiked a deuce on the river to defeat fellow East Coast grinder Dan Ott heads up.

With the final nine players in the World Series of Poker Main Event enjoying a two-day reprieve Tuesday and Wednesday, it’s the perfect time to get to know the final table.

Scott Blumstein leads the way with 97,250,000 chips, good for 122 big blinds entering final table play. And as the New Jersey native has told PokerNews and other outlets during the Main Event media blitz, that was the plan all along.

After 10 calendar days and seven spent on the felt, nine contenders for the World Series of Poker Main Event crown have emerged from the 7,221-strong field, playing their way to the most anticipated final table in the game.

New Jersey-based professional Scott Blumstein leads the pack with 97,250,000 chips, good for 122 big blinds when the final table kicks off on Thursday, July 20.

They say history has a funny way of repeating itself, but in the tumultuous world of tournament poker, that’s not always the case.

In fact, the last player to win consecutive World Series of Poker Main Events was Johnny Chan, who captured the crown in 1987 and 1988 before finishing as runner-up in 1989. Since then, the Main Event has been the realm of one-off winners, and only legends like Dan Harrington and Greg Raymer have even come close.

For the first time in this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event, the entire field will be assembled on the same day, as Thursday’s Day 3 brings back 2,472 hopefuls from the original 7,221-player pack.

The current chip leader is Artan Dedusha, a pro out of Nottingham, England who will be looking for his first WSOP cash – and his first in-the-money finish on American soil, for that matter.

On Tuesday, 2,219 survivors from Day 1A and Day 1B of the World Series of Poker Main Event reconvened at the Rio for Day 2AB – with the short stacks hoping to rebound, and the big stacks looking to build.

With three starting flights fully completed, the $10,000 Main Event at the 2017 World Series of Poker attracted 7,221 players to Las Vegas for poker’s premier tournament – making it the third-largest in series history.

The last time the Main Event drew 7,000-plus entries was in 2010, with 7,319 in attendance, while the 2006 edition is still the standard at 8,773.

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